Friday, April 13, 2012

Forgotten Chicken

This is my all time favorite, number one, first choice, bestest, loveliest, most deliciousliest meal. It's so good I had to make up adjectives for it. :) No exaggeration, this is MY personal favorite meal. Growing up this was the meal that I requested for every birthday, or actually any day when my mom asked my opinion on dinner. And I'm pretty sure she was okay with it since it consists of five ingredients and takes about 5 minutes to put together. (six if you count water.) It is certainly not fancy or exotic (and I'm aware that this isn't the most healthy meal) but just plain good ol' comfort food and warm yummy goodness. I will say that if you are looking for that super-pow recipe that hits you with all its flavors and knocks your taste buds unconscious...this is not it. I mean come on, it has five ingredients. But if you want a big dish of simple, good home cooking then give this a try. I personally think it is the best.

Mix together "cream of" soups, 1 can of water, and 2 cups of minute rice (uncooked.) Pour into a buttered casserole dish.

Lay chicken breasts on top of rice mixture and sprinkle onion soup mix on top. Cover with tin foil. Don't forget that important step!

(My dad hates onions so a lot of the time my mom would just mix the onion soup in with the rice. I guess out of sight, out of mind? Either way works.)

Here is where the name Forgotten Chicken comes in. Once you have it in the casserole dish you can put it in the oven and forget it! My mom would always put it in on a low temp. (around 250-275) before we left for church and when we got home three hours later it would be ready. Or you can cook it at 350-375 (depending on your oven) for one to one and a half hours. It is hard to mess up so if you forget it is in there don't worry, it is probably still okay!

The rice on the outside edges should be slightly browned and crispy and the rice on the inside soft and moist. Serve with a side salad and a nice big slice of bread and you have yourself one tasty meal. It's my favorite! (in case I haven't mentioned that enough times in this post.)

215 comments:

Yes, I forgot about this chicken too! I made it all the time when my kids were little...now I make cookies. Maybe I'll have to throw in a little chicken now and then! Thanks for the reminder of a great recipe! :)

I usually just use one can of soup, and 2 cups water. Comes out a bit thicker. The onion soup is easily replaced with pretty much any kind of seasoning you like, and I often top with shredded cheese. It's quick and easily modified for variety. Thanks for posting!

Yes it does!!! For many years I have cooked this dish- used a can of cr of chic & cr of celery & a can of cr of mushroom (4 children & 2 grands who lived with us was a crowd for meals) plus the onion soup x 2 with lots of chops. Did same thing with chicken & sometimes tenderized round steak though chicken cut up by me in special way was the favorite ( & less expensive). Now that I am alone, I still cook this but scale it down using only cr of celery & cr of mushroom & the onion soup x 2 sprinkled over perhaps half of a chicken or chicken breasts. Always used regular rice- tastes so much better to me ( & less expensive).

my family goes for three hours, one hour everyone together, one hour for Sunday school, Divide up the adults from the kids and then one hour with just us ladies...it is what I look forward to ALL week.

Being a good kind person ain't gonna get you into heaven and God does mind if you go to church to be with people who worship Him is good is His eyes. But back to the chicken dinner, this is a good backup dinner when you got to feed a family that doesn't take a lot of fuss to pull together.I am proud of the people that spend the three hours at church if that helps them serve the Lord.

(July 25th) God doesn't mind if we go to church or not! He is everywhere so we can pray anywhere. Maybe u should try and open a dictionary and find the word "ain't" :) so don't throw stones when u live in a glass house! It AINT right

That's how I make mine! I use a small jar of cheese whiz, or about a cup of shredded cheddar. I use fresh chopped broccoli as well. I haven't made this in awhile, so I think it will be on the menu next week!

My mom would make it with regular rice (not minute rice) 1 can of soup and 1 1/2 cups chicken broth. And I had sort of forgotten about this chicken too. I have some chicken ready and think this is dinner tomorrow

My mom made this a lot when I was growing up. I am about a million years old and back in the day Primary was on Wednesday's after school. She was always Primary president wherever we lived (my day was a Marine) and she would frequently serve this on Wednesdays, putting it in the oven before she left for Primary. That's why even for my kids, this is called "Primary Day Chicken". She cooked the chicken and sauce separate from the rice. That makes a very lovely sauce. I prefer to use Golden Mushroom soup because I love the color and the mushrooms. So don't worry about the rice. Bake the chicken and serve whatever you like with it. It is yummy with baked potatoes, too.

We're Baptist and we leave home around 8am & get back around 12:30-1... love our Sunday mornings....This should work just fine on low in the crockpot and can probably skip the water since there's condensation buildup constantly... the two cans of soup should be enough liquid... will try this week... probably use fresh chicken tenders rather than breasts.

Agreed!! And once your home from such a wonderful service the last thing you want to do is try to rush and find something to feed the family. I'd rather be spending time with mine instead of in the kitchen!! Wonderful recipe for us moms who get our worship on....or whatever else a mom may go and do on Sunday....why do people have to be so negative all the time?? God Bless You!

I usually use my sun oven on Sundays while we are at church and this recipe would work perfectly. I just set it out on the south facing porch and aim it to where the sun will be about halfway through the 3 hours (so I don't have to move it with the sun like you would with baking bread)...I've never had things be anything but perfect doing it this way. Thanks for sharing such an easy recipe.ps: OT, above there was a question about the length of church. 3 hours are split between 3 different meetings so you don't get too antsy sitting in one spot..1st hour women and men meet separately and have a gospel lesson (children and youth meet in their own classes, 2nd hour for Sunday School where we study and learn the principles, and truths taught in the scriptures. The 3rd hour we all meet back together in families as a congregation and listen to speakers and partake of the sacrament. In some places, well really in most places, this order is reversed. Sorry to get off topic, just thought I'd clarify the reason for the 3 hours. You can go here for more info http://mormon.org/worship/

Jamie,A Sun Oven is a contraption that uses solar energy to cook food. You can see the one I have at www.sunoven.com You can get them from the company directly or any of the many dealers, (I am one) or you can even get them on Amazon. They are a great preparedness item because if you have sun, you can cook, even in the winter. It doesn't have to be warm outside, just sunny. You can then use your other fuel, like propane or butane on days that are cloudy when your sun oven wouldn't work. There are several different brands but this is the one I like the best. Happy (Solar) cooking!

1. Preheat oven to 375F. In a skillet, brown chops in hot oil over medium heat, turning once (4-5 minutes). Remove chops from skillet, reserving drippings, sprinkle chops with pepper, set aside.2. In the same skillet, cook the onions and mushrooms in the drippings over medium heat until tender, set aside. In a large bowl stir together the soup, wine, and water, then stir in the rice, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme. Spoon mixture into a 3 quart baking dish, top with chops, then spoon cooked onion & mushrooms over the top. Cover with lid or foil.3. Bake, covered, in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until rice is done and internal temperature of chops registers 160F on an instant read thermometer. Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes before sprinkling with parsley and serving. Makes 4 servings.

Notes:

1. I generally use Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning on the chops, or Chef Paul's Pork & Veal Magic Seasoning. 2. I pretty much always use low sodium cream of mushroom soup, and I add garlic to the pan when the onions and mushrooms are about done.3. I usually mix the onions and mushrooms into the rice mixture.4. I always double the recipe and use a 13x9" pan.5. This could easily be done with browned ground beef or chicken breasts. If I were going to use ground beef, I'd sub beef broth or stock for the water in the recipe and probably red wine for the white.6. When you check the rice to see if it's done, check under a chop toward the middle of the pan, as that will likely be the last place it gets done.7. If you don't like mushrooms, you could easily leave them out and sub another type of cream of X soup for the cream of mushroom (cream of celery?).

It doesnt do well in the freezer if you've already baked it but it does freeze nicely if you don't. I usually prepare one or two extras for my Gram. Because a full recipe is too much for one...it does just fine but you bake it a bit longer from frozen

That's exactly like my favorite dish, only different. I use frozen thighs, and cut up carrots and potatoes instead of rice, although that sounds yummy. I do not cover it, but it can be "forgotten" except it gets to smelling so good you don't. Sometimes throw in some cauliflower or brocolli towards the end. LOVE IT.Marcia

I make a version of this in my crock pot. A couple cans of soup in with the chicken and let it cook (low for 6-8 hrs, high for 3-4). Close to when it's almost done I make a pot of rice. Put rice in a bowl, add a piece of the chicken and spoon some soup mixture over it, cut the chicken up and mix it all together. Delish! I do the same thing with pork chops. Even used mashed potatoes once and that was good as well. No reason why pasta couldn't be used either.

I'm not sure what I did wrong, but it turned out HORRIBLE. The rice was a nasty, gloppy mess and the chicken was flavorless. It was like the rice only absorbed the water and it was sitting it cream soup. I had to throw it out. :(

I wonder what you did wrong, maybe you didn't cover it with foil or something? I don't know but I made it on Sunday and it was SO GOOD! My husband loved it so much he even asked for it to be on our menu next week as well.

Do you put everything in all at once layered, like you would in the baking dish? I want to do this in the crockpot but would like to hear from someone who has done it before. I am assuming you put the chicken on top of everything just like you would in the baking dish. Also how long did you cook it in the crock pot? Thank you

do you think if i added bacon wrapped around the chicken, i could still bake it the same? i found a somewhat similar recipe with bacon wrapped chicken & it calls for it to be baked for about 4 hrs... ? let me know please :)

My grandmother and mom mafe a similar dish and we called it Chicken & Rice and Everything Nice. Not sure why??? It was my fave dinner as a kid. My mom will make it for me when she visits. I'm making this tonight for my boys (son and hubs), but I'll be using cream of mushroom instead of the cream of celery. I already had a can in my pantry and I like it better.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it uses the same "cream of" soups as another family favorite so my 7 year old daughter and I are trying it....it's in the over as I type. She mixed the soups, water, onion mix and rice while I just did the chicken. She loves to help in the kitchen and this recipe was a great one for her to use and make her own dish from. We can't wait to try it, thanks!

I pinned this last week and just made it today and left it to cook while we were at church. The house smelled so good when we came home. We loved this and the rice was my kids favorite part. I have to say I really liked the rice too. Told my friend about this at church and now since I have made it and enjoyed it I will have to tell her to come to your site and get the recipe. Thanks for sharing it.

I twisted this recipe. I didn't have cream of celery, but I did have cream cheese...so it was cream cheese and cream of mushroom. But no onion. So I used mcKormick's rosemary chicken roast spices instead. Still a hit! I might have to see how else I can tweak it and still get tasty results!

I make something very similar that everyone loves. I add cheese though and use cream of mushroom as the 2nd soup instead of cream of celery! One of my most favorite meals, will have to give this one a try!

50 + year old recipe! I knew this recipe looked familiar! I make it all the time from a 1960 cookbook titled, 'Cooking With Love' Is that too cute or what?

Recipe as follows:Ingredients1 can celery soup1 can mushroom soup1 soup can milk (meaning fill the empty soup can with milk)1 cup of rice (I use instant)6 to 8 pieces fryer chicken (I use chicken tenders)

Mix soups, milk and rice in a large bowl:Put rice and soup mix in a 9 X 13 baking dish.Lay chicken pieces on top of rice (not touching). Shake onion soup mix so it will be evenly mixed. Sprinkle over top of chicken pieces. Cover with foil and bake in 325 degree oven for 1 and 3/4 hours.

Just finished eating this, yes eating. We made this today after finding it on Pinterest this afternoon. I can't believe how easy and inexpensive this meal was to feed our family. We are family of 8 I doubled the recipe and cooked it the one to two hours. Everybody loved this and it is now nicely written down and put into our recipe box of our favorite we will eat again meals.

Sorry to be a pain but someone asked if you still needed the tin foil if you make it in the crock pot and I would really love to know the answer as I would like to give this a go, albeit tweaked a little to suit my family.

Another variation:Mix 2 cans Cream of chicken, mushroom or celery soups with 1 can Rotel Tomatoes with Chilies with the riceThen place chicken on top (I used thighs & small breasts)Cover with foilYummy!

First time I made this, the rice wasn't cooked at all. Did I need more liquid or should I have just cooked it longer? I did the 350 for an hour and a half. Oh and I didn't use Minute Rice...just regular. Does that make a difference?

Made this! So simple, cheap, and delicious! Since my family loves the combination of white and dark meat, we used boneless skinless chicken breasts, and thighs. Kept in the over for 3.5 hours at 250º. Simply wonderful, and will be added to the rotation! Thank you for the lovely recipe!

I have made a recipe like this for years, using long grain white rice which you saute with chopped onion in some butter until slightly brown. Add this to your buttered 8 x 13 dish. Lay your raw chicken pieces seasoned with your choice, (paprika, pepper,etc)on top. Then top with your choice of soup, Cr of Celery, Mushroom, or what ever you like and about 3 cups chicken broth. Cover with foil and bake slow for several hours, or turn up heat and bake 350 for about 1 1/2 hours. Take foil off the last 15 minutes to slightly brown chicken. This is an old standard chicken/rice dish that is always good with a vegetable and/or green salad. Yes it does have a lot of sodium,,,so those folks might want to use reduced sodium broth, and soups to cut down on the salt.

have never done this but not sure if it's a good idea, since the rice would sit in the fridge and absorb the liquid and then have nothing to cook itself in? Maybe? I don't know but that's what I would think.

This was my favorite as a child also! My kids hate onions so I just put the onion soup mix (dry) in a mesh strainer and shake all the dry seasoning through and leave the onions out. You still get the flavor but not the negative comments.

- I am 54 years old, and my mom made this when I was a kid, and as I grew up. I have been making it for my family since I was first married 33 years ago. It is my favorite meal too! We make it just a tiny bit different. We use 1 cup of regular white rice, not instant. we use 1 can of cream of chicken soup and add a can of mushrooms too.The onion soup mix and 3 cups of water. It comes out creamy and delicious.

We make something similar...our version of Cordon Bleu. Stuff chicken breasts with sliced ham and swiss cheese, insert toothpicks to hold together, then roll in flour. I sometimes brown the chicken at this point, but this is not necessary. Mix one can cream of chicken, one can cream of mushroom, and one can french onion. Pour over chicken and bake at 350 for an hour or so. I love to serve over mashed potatoes, because the gravy is scrumptious! I have also served over rice or egg noodles. Yum!

We make something similar...our version of Cordon Bleu. Stuff chicken breasts with sliced ham and swiss cheese, insert toothpicks to hold together, then roll in flour. I sometimes brown the chicken at this point, but this is not necessary. Mix one can cream of chicken, one can cream of mushroom, and one can french onion. Pour over chicken and bake at 350 for an hour or so. I love to serve over mashed potatoes, because the gravy is scrumptious! I have also served over rice or egg noodles. Yum!

I made mine in crock pot last night my kids love it i threw in bag rice mixed with mushroom soup,cream chicken and some brown gravey and onion mix to taste it worked all the same and my family loves it

I made this for my family tonight. It was a hit! :)I used frozen chicken breasts. Also I used cream ofmushroom in place of cream of celery and I left out the rice and the can of water. I cooked it at 375 for two hours.. It turned out great! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It's always nice to find new recipes that are fast and everyone likes. :)

I never tried it with the chicken or rice but I have tried it with sliced up potatoes n lay the pork chops on top of the potatoes with the soups n baked it :) now I'm gonna have to try the chicken n rice:)

I will add that I cooked it on 250 for 4 hours and I used a smaller casserole dish so my chicken was soaked in the rice mix. The chicken was so tender it was falling apart and the rice was extra soft. This is my husbands favorite meal now ;)